Low Rates, Weak Economy, and Overrated Underwriters

Friendship Quote of the Day: “I get by with a little help from my friends.” -John Lennon.

Interest Rates: Rates continue their mission to drive down to my high school GPA. A 30yr fixed is still below 5% and ARMS about a point lower. As usual, please keep in mind that rates can vary based on type of property, equity in the property, credit scores, and if this new medication will help stop the voices in my head.

Wuss’up This Week: A big week for economic reports. A good rule of thumb is that reports coming out that show signs of the economy being weaker than expected means rates may drop; stronger than expected means rates can climb. Tomorrow the Fed’s Beige Book Report comes out. This is a report that summarizes economic conditions from the 12-Federal Reserve regional districts. This report is used at all Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meetings and tends to be one of the most influential events in the market (second only to the FOMC softball league standings).

Underwriters have lost their minds: Those of you who have bought or refinanced a home in the last 18 months know that even Bill Gates would have problems getting approved! I found this article in last week’s NY Times about pregnant women having trouble getting loans that I thought was (sadly) interesting.

Friendship Quote of the Day 2: “I’m really a nice guy. If I had friends you could ask them.” – Walter Kornbluth (Eugene Levy), Splash, 1984.

Timeout for Trivia: Congratulations to all of you who correctly guessed Robin “Mork from Ork” Williams. I still suspect that fuzzy picture of Bigfoot was Robin walking naked on a beach. Want to be entered into a drawing to win 3 packs of Razzles Gum? Simply email me the correct answer to this week’s Who Am I? question. Good luck: “I turn 48 in a few days. My acting career started 25 years ago as I appeared as Michael Jackson’s nemesis in his “Bad” video. Bad is an excellent word to describe most of my later movies which seem to go straight to DVD. But in the late 80s and early 90s I had success with Spike Lee and a bartender from Cheers. In the late 90s I also found success with a movie (where the title can be another word for a knife) that got franchised. Can I make a comeback? I don’t know. Only two things in life are guaranteed – death and taxes, although I tried to prove that 2nd one wrong.”